Psalm 20:7
Some people trust the power
of chariots or horses,
but we trust you, Lord God.
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991,1992, 1995 by American Bible Society, Used by Permission.
In November 2013, CBS aired a story on 60 Minutes titled
the “Recycled Orchestra of Cateura”…about a ragtag “children’s
orchestra” in Cateura, Paraguay, where children learn to play
instruments made, quite literally, from trash. The creator of these
instruments, Don Cola, lives alongside the landfill in Cateura. He has
no background in classical music…much less instrument making. But he is
apparently quite skilled as an artisan and craftsman, and he listens to
the instructions of others and creates musical instruments from
discarded items and wood. There was a violin made from an empty paint
can and an oven tray…and cellos made from old oil barrels that sported
tuning knobs fashioned from such discarded items as a hair brush handle,
a wooden spoon, a woman’s shoe heel…and even a kitchen tool once used
to make gnocchis.
Social worker and orchestra conductor Favio
Chavez matches the students with a suitable “instrument” and teaches
them to play…mostly classical music, but also some Latin tunes – and
even a few Beatles songs. Chavez says that this “orchestra” has given
these children an alternative to gang life in this Paraguayan community
that was built on a landfill. There has been a documentary created…
“landfillharmonic: The world sends us garbage. We send back music.”*
The 60 Minutes story and the documentary have both served to
bolster familiarity with the “landfillharmonic”…and now they are
performing all over the world with well-known musicians from the U.S.
and Europe. They are even set to open in a South American venue for
Metallica!
When you watch this story, I will tell you that your
first instinct is to pull out your checkbook or credit card and order a
brand new instrument or two to send to Cateura. And people have done
exactly that. Truckloads of instruments have arrived, and the reporters
say that the reactions from the children when they see an actual
guitar, violin, or cello are heartwarming.
But here’s the
catch…as the children of Cateura get new instruments, do they lose their
“appeal”? Aren’t they merely another “children’s orchestra”…albeit one
from a South American slum? Does the power of what they are
accomplishing in the orchestra lie in the group itself as they learn to
play an instrument and function together as a musical group? Or is the
real power in the lesson of taking objects from the trash and fashioning
something that can make beautiful music? Which is more
compelling…not-so-great music created on instruments constructed from
landfill items…or mediocre performances performed on brand-new ones sent
from anonymous donors around the world?
Chavez, Cola and others
admit that this is a Catch-22. And the lesson for us in this is that we
all tend to put our stock in the wrong power from time to time. We
rely on our own skills and abilities, rather than God’s. We think we
are “all that and a bag of chips” and forget Who literally “gave us the
moon”...Who truly made us whatever it is that we think we are! We get
so busy trying to do things our way…to “drive the car” and create a
desired outcome…and we forget to stop and ask God what HE thinks – much
less to ask for His help!
I challenge you to examine your life
today and see where you have misplaced power. Where have you put your
stock in something other than God’s authority and influence? Have you
traded in His ability to create “beautiful music” with a “landfill
instrument” in your life in favor of a brand new shiny apparatus or
method of your own doing? Do you see that this is not where the real
potential and capacity for joy, blessings, success and fulfillment
lies? Will this be the day that you surrender control to God and
operate in HIS power rather than what you perceive as your own?
With God, all things are possible. Is He the power in your life today? Don’t you think He should be?
©2014 Debbie Robus
*http://www.landfillharmonicmovie.com/
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